Some final and third year Computer Science Students of the Ho Technical University have paid an educational visit to the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) which has over the past fifteen years pioneered Single Window operations in the country.

The visit by the 40-member student group was to enhance their knowledge in computer applications engineering as part of the practical training in the course they were pursuing. It also afforded them the opportunity to learn about the operations of GCNet and the continuous innovations being applied to deliver on the company's mandate to positively impact Ghana's economy

They toured the infrastructure and network facilities of the company including the Networking Operating Centre and offices. The students were also given presentations on the operations of GCNet, its role in Ghanaâ€™s Trade Facilitation and Revenue mobilization activities as well as how these activities contribute to national development and livelihood enhancement.

In an interaction with the students, the Human Resource Manager, Mrs. Akosua Asamoah advised them to be innovative and creative to find their place in the fast changing technological environment.

"As you are acquiring knowledge and skills and prepare for the world of work, there is the need to also develop a positive work attitude in this competitive era. Attitude at the work place is very important. A negative attitude will lead to less productivity." Mrs. Asamoah admonished.

She said hosting students from tertiary institutions was in line with GCNet's CSR programme in education to help bridge the gap between academia and industry as the company shares practical industry knowledge with the students.

Mr. Agyaaku Nkansah, a Training Coordinator, told the students that GCNet, an innovator and leader in the provision of e-Solutions to Government, have developed and deployed Ghana's Single Window Platform for Processing Trade Transactions and Customs Clearances at Customs Headquarters as well as all the key Customs Stations.

He said the single window platforms deployed include front-end Electronic Messaging Platform (the TradeNet) and a back-end System (the Ghana Customs Management System) that allows for a 24/7 processing of declarations.

The Chief Technical Officer of GCNet, Mr. Matthew Soputamit briefed the students about services GCNet offered, the system architecture and the underlying technology that supported the systems deployed.

He shared information on technologies being deployed and how they can help to safeguard an enterprise's core resources like database and business application from being easily compromised. He also spoke about GCNet's e-products such as the E-Tax and e- Reg applications for domestic tax processing/management and electronic registration at the Register General Department which areÂ all web based applications and accessible on the internet.

A Lecturer at the University, Mr. Carlos Ankoro, who accompanied the students to GCNet, commended the company for the ICT application it has instituted to facilitate ease of doing business and for revenue mobilisation.

The visit he said has been beneficial as the students had learnt a lot and have been able to link the basic IT fundamental principles taught to a typical enterprise setup like GCNet.

GCNet had earlier hosted students from the Computer Science Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in a similar educational visit.